The old death contemplation redux

Jeroen

I’ve been in a reflective mood and revisiting some of my old posts, seeing what new things I would like to add, as a lot of these topics are cyclical. Here’s the original post from 2020:

https://newbuddhist.com/discussion/26453/the-nine-contemplations-of-atisha

To recap, Atisha stated the body was fragile, death was inevitable, and nothing could help. It’s a great meditation for bringing home the immediacy of life, bringing you into the present moment (which is all there ever is). It also focuses you on the spiritual life as the one thing that can possibly help.

But there I think we go astray. Priests since time immemorial have traded upon the afterlife, getting people to do things in today’s world in return for favours in the afterlife. But there is no hard evidence for such things, the mists of psychedelic vision are notoriously fickle and full of illusion. I’m no longer inclined to believe priests, or their asking after real-world payments.

Where does that leave us, with no well defined afterlife or cosmology? Well, it seems to me the result of the death contemplation is to focus on living life. Trade in money for free time, enjoy life, live a little. It may be better to go on a bicycle ride around the forest on a sunny day than to spend time in the office, you never know how many good days you have left.

paulysotoo

death and life is in us. things die,things born. ma earth is boss. meditating on death is a good thing to me. it motivate the one life, one shot philosphy. it light a fire in my butt, to live fully,now and hopely my mantra, be be safe,be smart,be well let me time to alighn my wish be an ok, and fair to my self and to others, untill my last breath.

death can be viewed in zen the void nature. the more i be the void in practice, death is not so scarey to me. not there yet. zen is practice. the void is everthy and nothing in dao
earth.